History of the M.E. Church, Vol. IV - Media Sabda Org

frolicking and gambling. What I have suffered in body and mind my pen is not able to communicate
to you; but this I can say, while my body is wet with water, and chilled with cold, my soul is filled
with heavenly fire. Glory to God and the Lamb! I have not a wish but that the will of God may be
done in me, through me, and by me. And I can now say, with St. Paul, that 'I count not my life dear
unto me, so that I may save some.' I am now more than one thousand miles from you, and know not
that I shall ever see you again; but I hope to meet you one day in the land of rest."
Such was the spirit of these pioneer evangelists of the West. Bowman could not be driven from
those morally desolate regions. He kept his ground two years, formed a circuit, and in the second
year was joined by an equally heroic missionary, Thomas Lasley.
In 1807 Jacob Young, whose extraordinary ministerial achievements have already often claimed
our attention and wonder, was present with Asbury and other itinerants at the house of Tiffin,
Chillicothe, Ohio, attending the Western Conference. Asbury took him into an apartment, aside, read
to him Jacob's journey from his father's house to Padan-aram, pausing where the patriarch stopped
to rest at night, with a stone for a pillow. Rising, the bishop placed his hands on the head of the
young itinerant, and commissioned him to go down the Mississippi, and take charge of the Natchez
District. "Go," he said, "in the name of the Lord, do your duty, and God will be with you" Then
turning away, he left Young alone, startled at the order, and said no more to him on the subject till
the adjournment of the session, when he "read off the appointments," announcing "Mississippi
District, Jacob Young." Five circuits, with as many preachers, were assigned him. After the doxology
and benediction Young proclaimed to his little band that they would rendezvous at "Cage's Bend,
on Cumberland River, Tennessee." McKendree conducted him on his way. They reached the house
of Dr. Hynes, (famous in the local annals of Methodism in Kentucky,) in Clarke County, Ky. There,
after writing him instructions for his work, McKendree "knelt down and commended me," writes
Young, "to God in solemn prayer. Dr. Hynes shouted aloud, his pious lady praised the Lord; the
pious Martha wept bitterly. My fine Arabian horse being brought to the gate, I took my saddle-bags
on my arm, and gave my friends the parting hand. Martha followed to the gate, and gave me a vest
pattern and a silver dollar. I mounted, and rode away, traveling nearly two hundred miles alone. The
vows of the Almighty were upon me. My field of labor was large, in a strange country, far from
home. In due time I came to the place of rendezvous. The preachers met me according to
appointment, and we spent two or three days making preparations to pass through the wilderness,
from Nashville to Nachez, which was then considered a dangerous road, often infested by robbers.
We bought a pack-horse and saddle, and other things necessary for a long journey. Here we held a
three days' meeting, which was attended with much good. From this place we rode to Liberty Hill,
between Nashville and Franklin, where we met with James Ward, presiding elder of the district, and
Joseph Oglesby, circuit preacher in charge. Here we 'had an excellent camp-meeting. We then rode
to the town of Franklin, put up with Major Murry and Lewis Garret, where we laid in our stores for
the wilderness. The first day we rode about thirty miles. About sundown we halted, and tied our
horses to the trees. One of our company being still behind, came up while we were cooking supper.
We had our camp-kettle, every man had his own knife, and we made wooden forks."
Thus they journeyed on, forty or fifty miles a day, through Indian tribes -- the Chickasaws and
Choctaws -- and all kinds of frontier hardships. Arriving at Fort Gibson, they pitched their tent "on
'the Common," and soon after met Blackman, Bowman, and Lasley, the only three preachers of the